Stargazing
by 1Lioness6
Summary: "Does this mean I'm the Chosen One?" "Doubt it, last time we had a 'Chosen One' he survived 10 minutes in the battle." Harry Potter is dead. Now, it is up to Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood to find the last hope of the Wizarding World.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.**

Hermione Granger sat outside of their makeshift tent, looking up at the sky. The sky was dark, with a few specks of light-stars-winking out at her. She remembered a time when she thought that even in the darkest of times, light could still be found. Like in the sky- even when it's dark, there are still the stars. But, times were no longer like that. There was no more hope. Because their only hope was gone.

Harry Potter was dead. And with his death, the light lost. The Order of the Phoenix fell. Those who still fought against Voldemort and the Death Eaters parished. Hermione, along with Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood were just barely living, heck, they weren't living anymore. No, they were just surviving. All three of them had massive bounties on their heads for their capture, as they were the last of the light. They had been living in the same tent that Hermione, Harry and Ron had lived in while searching for Horcruxes, never staying in one place for too long.

Hermione loved stargazing. She loved it because it brought her back to a time with hope, and love. A time before darkness swamped the whole of the wizarding world. It brought her back to a time of innocent, do-gooder Hermione Granger with bright eyes and buck teeth. A time when Hogwarts was home. Stargazing was often the only thing that offered her an escape from the world- not even reading did that for her anymore.

Hermione heard a creak, and looked back to the tent. Luna was awake, probably ready to relieve Hermione of her watch shift.

"When do you think we'll find them?" questioned Luna in her airy voice. Really, Hermione and the others weren't just hiding, they were searching. Word of a prophecy had reached them. A prophecy of a new hope. A new Chosen One. Someone who could finally bring love back to the world. They didn't know what they looked like, if they were young or old. All they knew was that they were out there. And hopefully they would find them.

"At this rate, I don't know if we ever will. We don't even know where to start," replied the ever doubtful Hermione. She learned long ago that if you hoped for something to happen, you were just setting yourself up for disappointment. And it was better to avoid disappointment, in her book.

"We can't give up hope just yet, we haven't looked everywhere. We need to move away from staying in forests, Hermione. No Chosen One is going to be in the middle of nowhere."

"Hope is already gone, Luna. And It's just not safe to leave. The last time we left the middle of nowhere, we were found. And I don't think I need to remind you that one of us died."

"Hope is always there, Hermione. You just have to look for it." Hermione rolled her eyes at that and got up, saying goodnight to Luna. How could one look for hope, she scoffed when there was so obviously not hope.

Inside the tent, there were two bunk beds. One of them was for Luna, who used to share a bunk with Neville, but Neville had been killed on their last venture out of the forest, and the other for Hermione and Ginny. Hermione always took the bottom bunk, not only because she was afraid of heights, but also because if they were attacked, she'd be able to spring into action as quick as possible.

She snuggled into her pale yellow blankets that she had bought thinking that maybe such a bright and happy color could bring brightness and happiness to her life. It hadn't worked. Hermione never truly fell asleep- she would always sleep while still being aware of what was around her, something that the constant fear of being found did to someone. This meant that Hermione also heard Luna come back in a while later to wake up Ginny for her shift, and then even after that Ginny wake up Luna for her second shift.

At night, Hermione's thoughts kept her company. Sometimes they were about Harry and Ron. About the future that they could have had. Or about their old adventures at Hogwarts. The last remaining member of the Golden Trio never felt so much alone as she did at night. At night all of these thoughts swarmed her. Sometimes the happy thoughts of her, Ron, and Harry all back together again even made her sad. Sometimes, her thoughts were about the supposed new "chosen one," and the prophecy they had heard of. When they asked what the prophecy was, they weren't told it word for word like some might expect. They were just told the basic gist of it- there was a new enemy of the Dark Lord out there. Another hope, another light. The prophecy said that they were hid in plain sight, and didn't even know it themselves that they were the Chosen One. She had her suspicions of course about where the Chosen One was. She thought that he might be at Hogwarts, because how much more of "plain sight" does that get? They would literally be right under Voldemorts nose- or as much of a nose he has.

She hadn't brought her idea up to the others- for fear of being shut down. Hogwarts was the last place any of them wanted to be- including Hermione. Hogwarts was where many of their friends had died- Harry included- and therefore was sort of a nightmarish place for them. Not to mention, Hogwarts was no longer the homely place that welcomed all. No, it was now a "Mudblood Free" school, with the Carrows in charge. Inside, many of the students were either going to be Death Eaters, or already were.

Plus, the only way they could possibly get into the castle and stay there was through one of the tunnels pictured on the Marauder's map, and staying in the Room of Requirement. She didn't even know if those tunnels still existed, and as for the Room of Requirement, it could have been destroyed or could even be in use by the Death Eaters.

Hermione didn't know what to do anymore. She felt as though they would never find the Chosen One. At least, not before the end of the Wizarding World.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.**

It was morning- the birds were chirping and the sun was rising. It amazed Hermione that the birds still chirped in the morning, even after the obvious darkness that had swamped the world. And the sun rising- she felt as though it should have stopped a long time ago. She felt this because the sun rising could be seen as a symbol of hope, a new start to a new day. But there was hardly anymore hope. So why did the sun still rise?

Hermione got up and off the bed, and went outside to where Ginny was still watching over their little 'campsite'. From the looks of it, Ginny had tears in her eyes. Hermione knew that Ginny would never let the tears fall- none of them would let their tears fall. Because crying was a sign of weakness and in a war that they were quickly losing, it was best to be strong.

"Hey," murmured Hermione. While crying was weak, she still cared for her friend.

"I just can't believe that they're all _gone_ ," croaked out Ginny. "I'm the last Weasley left. And Harry…"

"Ginny, you know that all of them would be so proud of you now, trying to defeat the Dark Lord," said Hermione trying to comfort Ginny. She knew it was true- the Weasleys weren't all Gryffindors for nothing.

"Do you think we'll ever find the Chosen One?" questioned Ginny, a hope in her eyes that Hermione hadn't seen in a long time.

Hermione sighed- not that question again. She didn't know what to say. She could say she thought that they might be at Hogwarts, and be roughly shut down, or just say that she didn't know and dim that glimmer of hope in Ginny's eyes.

So, Hermione told Ginny "I have an idea of where he might be. I just… I don't know if we can go there."

Ginny snorted, they could practically go anywhere in this little tent set up they had.

"Hermione, we can go wherever as long as it's not, you know, Hogwarts"

"That's the thing," replied Hermione meeting Ginny's eyes, "I think the Chosen One _is_ at Hogwarts."

Ginny's eyes widened. Hogwarts was a place of death. A place of sorrow. A place of a long lost hope and love. Ginny nodded- it did make sense after all. If the Chosen One was going to be anywhere, he was probably at Hogwarts. Hogwarts was where the majority of witches and wizards were currently- as long as they weren't muggleborn or a blood traitor.

"How are you planning on getting inside, 'Mione?"

"Well, we'd have to use one of those tunnels on the Marauders Map and we'd have to stay in the Room of Requirement. The only thing is that we don't know if those tunnels are still around- there's a good chance they're not - and all we can do is hope that the Carrows don't know about the Room of Requirement. And if they do know about it, we just have to hope that they don't know how to find it"

Ginny thought about it. What Hermione said was all true- there were so many things that could go wrong with trying to get into Hogwarts. But, she knew that they had to try. They had to try for Harry. They had to try for Tonks, Lupin, the rest of the Weasleys. They just had to try.

"I think we should try it," admitted Ginny quietly.

Hermione's eyes widened upon hearing what Ginny had said. She had expected Ginny to vehemently disagree with Hermione's statement. But now, since Ginny had agreed, all they had to do was tell Luna, who would hopefully agree.

With that, Hermione nodded and got up to go and wake up Luna, and tell her of their plan. Luna was sleeping peacefully in the bed with eccentric purple covers, and Hermione just stared at her for a little bit. She hadn't seen this look on Luna's face in awhile- a look of pure contentment. Sure, Luna still always had a far away look on her face, but lately that look at slightly changed by the hardness present in Luna's eyes. Hermione supposed that now everyone had sort of a hard look in their eyes- for one does not escape war unchanged.

With that little thought, Hermione shook Luna awake and explained the overall plan to her. At first, Luna was reluctant, the last thing she (or any of them) wanted to do was go back to Hogwarts, but after more explanation, she readily agreed.

Hermione felt a feeling in her chest that she hadn't felt in a long time- excitement. And hope. Excitement for a change in pace of her life. Finally, they were going to _do_ something. Something other than sit in their tent and wallow in sadness and despair. Of course, there was still sadness and despair in their lives, but having something to do distracted her from that unfortunate part of life. Hermione also had hope for a change of times. Maybe, just maybe, there was a little bit of light to be seen in the future. Maybe there was another Chosen One.

With a long lost spark in her eyes, Hermione sat up and got to work. If they were going to do this, she had to plan in out perfectly- there was no room for flaws, as any flaw could be fatal. Hermione was going to plan perhaps the biggest infiltration the wizarding world had ever seen, except for maybe that time she had broken into Gringotts with Harry and Ron.

No, her, Ginny and Luna were going to break into Hogwarts, their long-lost home. The very same place where dark magic was now taught and where future Death Eaters were trained.

Yes, they might die doing this. But, if they do die, at least they died trying to do the right thing.


End file.
